Filip Vezdin, the missionary who brought Sanskrit to Europe
Filip Vezdin, a Croatian missionary and scholar, pioneered Sanskrit studies in Europe. His printed grammar, cultural analyses, and comparative linguistics laid early foundations for Indology. Despite his influence, his legacy remains underrecognized in the history of Indian and linguistic studies
Hyderabad: Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic gifted Prime Minister Narendra Modi, a reprint of the first printed Sanskrit grammar — originally written in Latin in 1790 by Croatian scientist and missionary Filip Vezdin.
This gift, rooted in centuries-old intellectual and cultural ties between the two nations, marked a highlight of PM Modi’s landmark visit to Croatia — the first-ever by an Indian Prime Minister.
Lets know about Filip Vezdin, and his significant contributions to the the study of Sanskrit and Indian civilization.
Who was Filip Vezdin?
Filip Vezdin, also known by his religious name Paulinus a Sancto Bartholomaeo, was a Croatian Indologist and Carmelite missionary who authored some of the earliest printed works on Sanskrit and Indian culture in Europe.
Born in 1748 in Hof (present-day Austria) to Jurje and Helena Bregunic, he dedicated his life to missionary service in India and pioneering scholarship in Indic languages and traditions.
Though once celebrated across Europe, his legacy has largely faded—despite his groundbreaking contributions.
Multilingual scholar and missionary
Vezdin took holy orders as a Discalced Carmelite and adopted the name Paulinus a S. Bartholomaeo. Educated in Sopron, Linz, Prague, and Rome, he was fluent in Latin, German, Sanskrit, and several Indian languages.
In 1774, he was sent to the Malabar Coast in India as a missionary. By 1776, he became the vicar-general and served until 1789.
Upon returning to Europe, he was appointed Professor of Oriental Languages at the ‘Congregatio de Propaganda Fide’ in Rome. He continued publishing works on Indian language, religion, and society until his death in 1806.
The first Sanskrit grammar printed in Europe
Vezdin’s 1790 work Sidharubam seu Grammatica Samscrdamica (Rome, 1790) was the first printed grammar of Sanskrit in Europe. It laid out the rules of the language and presented a historical-critical discussion on its origins, structure, and literary importance.
Though earlier handwritten grammars existed—like that of German Jesuit Johann Ernst Hanxleden—Vezdin’s Sidharubam brought Sanskrit to the European scholarly stage in print. His critics accused him of copying Hanxleden’s manuscript, which Vezdin had brought back to Rome. In response, he published De codicibus indicis manuscriptis R.P. Joannis Ernesti Hanxleden Epistola (Vienna, 1799), acknowledging Hanxleden’s influence but defending his originality.
The most influential work: Systema Brahmanicum
His second major work, Systema Brahmanicum Liturgicum, Mythologicum, Civile (Rome, 1791), is widely considered his most important. It provided a systematic account of Brahmanical religion, mythology, and society based on texts from the Borgia Museum.
Systema is divided into three sections:
- Liturgy: Sacrifices, penance, Lingam worship, and festivals
- Mythology: Hindu gods, worship of animals, and comparisons with other religions
- Civil System: Caste hierarchy, professions, and monetary systems
This work was translated into German by Johann Reinhold Forster in 1797 and later into other European languages, although Forster critiqued its Latin style as “obscure.”
Exploring scripts and proverbs
In 1791, Vezdin also published Alphabeta Indica, which compared key Indian scripts such as Grantha, Devanagari, Telugu, and Malabar (Malayalam). That same year, he released Centum Adagia Malabarica, a collection of 100 Malabar proverbs with Latin translations.
In 1792, he published Examen Historico-criticum Codicum Indicorum, and in 1793, a critical analysis of Borgia Museum manuscripts titled Musei Borgiani Velitris Codices. A debate followed, with Count Rezzonico arguing Indian civilization had Scythian roots—an idea Vezdin rejected in his rebuttal Scitismo sviluppato.
A voice for Christian India
In India Orientalis Christiana (1794), Vezdin documented the Christian heritage of eastern India, including church foundations, bishop successions, and missionary histories. A biographical sketch of Bishop Innocentius a S. Leopoldo, highlights Croatian influence in early Indian Christianity.
His most popular book
Viaggio alle Indie Orientali (Rome, 1796), a travelogue of his Indian mission, became Vezdin’s best-known book. Translated into German (1798) and English (1800), it blends vivid personal narratives with geographical, cultural, and linguistic insights.
The book opens dramatically with the arrival of a French ship at Puducherry in 1776. Vezdin praises Governor Law de Lauriston, highlights the diversity of Indian customs, and includes a Malabar devotional song to Krishna. He describes a parrot, symbolising the goddess Saraswati, singing praises to the deity—illustrating his deep engagement with Indian symbolism.
Comparative linguistics pioneer
In De Antiquitate et Affinitate Linguae Zendicae, Samscrdamicae, et Germanicae (Padua, 1799), Vezdin pioneered comparative linguistics. Though Sir William Jones had earlier noted similarities among Indo-European languages, Vezdin was among the first to systematically compare Sanskrit, Zend (Avestan), and German.
He argued that these languages shared a common origin, citing phonetic and semantic parallels. Notably, he emphasized nouns and verbs rather than superficial vocabulary comparisons.
He expanded these ideas in De Latini Sermonis Origine et cum Orientalibus Linguis Connexione (Rome, 1802), claiming that Sanskrit and Latin shared a proto-language—what he called unus primordialis Samscrdamicus sermo.
Later works and final contributions
Vezdin’s final major Sanskrit grammar, Vyacarana seu Locupletissima Samscrdamicae Linguae Institutio (Rome, 1804), was dedicated to Cardinal Stefano Borgia. Structured like Latin grammars of the time, it offers a contrastive analysis of Sanskrit and Latin and includes a Sanskrit-Latin dictionary, noun declensions, verb conjugations, and syntactic rules.
In total, Vezdin published over 20 works—most in Latin—between 1790 and 1804. Though often polemical and occasionally controversial, his output influenced scholars across Europe.
Legacy and Reappraisal
Despite being overshadowed by later Indologists, Vezdin laid the groundwork for future studies of Sanskrit and Indo-European linguistics. He combined missionary zeal with academic rigor, bridging East and West through language.
As R. Schwab notes in The Oriental Renaissance, “Paulinus a Sancto Bartholomaeo collected some important materials, as much linguistic as theological.”
While his methods may now seem dated, his contributions remain foundational. It’s time Vezdin’s name reclaimed its place in the history of Indic studies.
